Increase in Hawai'i's rural kids noted

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer

As the number of students living in rural areas of Hawai'i increases, the University of Hawai'i Center on the Family wants support organizations and policymakers to be aware of the challenges they face.

A special Kids Count report on city and rural kids shows that the state's rural children are more likely to be living in poverty, and they also are more likely to live in households where no adults hold a full-time job.

"The thing we should be concerned about is that (the number of) children living in rural populations has grown, while the (number of) children living in urban Honolulu has stayed pretty much the same," said Marika Ripke, project coordinator for Hawai'i Kids Count.

One of the surprises of the national report was that there were not as many differences between rural and urban children as originally anticipated.

"There was some difference, but overall they face the same type of problems," Ripke said.

The report by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation focuses on child well-being in rural communities and cities across the country. It is a supplement to the Kids Count Data Book published in June.

When compared among the top 50 cities across the nation, Honolulu ranks first at student retention, with a dropout rate of 5 percent compared with a national average of 13 percent. Ho-nolulu also had the second lowest percentage of children with single-parent families — 24 percent compared with the national average of 37 percent.

However, Honolulu kids are more likely to have difficulty speaking English than both their rural and national counterparts.

Among the findings:

• The rural population increased 23 percent from 1990 to 2000, compared with only a 2 percent increase in Hawai'i's urban population.

• More than one-fourth of Hawai'i's children live in rural areas.

• 43 percent of rural children and 37 percent of urban children live in families where no parent has full-time year-round employment, compared with a national rate of 61 percent.

• 68 percent of low-income rural children and 70 percent of urban children live in families that spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing, much higher than the national rate of 61 percent.

• 11 percent of urban children have difficulty speaking English, compared with 7 percent nationally.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8014.